Pages

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Here's where we stayed Sunday night (photo at left): In Monroe Harbor, with gleaming skyscrapers as a backdrop.

We decided that for once, we'd let someone else do the driving, and booked seats for a twilight tour of the Chicago Loop, from the river--kind of a Readers Digest Condensed Education in Chicago Skyscraper Architecture, followed by fireworks, as the city said goodbye to the Tall Ships)

The next morning, we piloted the same route ourselves. First step, the Chicago Harbor Lock, which separates the lake from the Chicago River . . .

This is the lock that, perhaps, might be closed, to keep Asian carp from entering the lake. No friendly locktenders here to take your lines here, as on the Trent Severn. You just radio ahead, wait for the green light to enter the lock, and then you are on your own.

Even though we'd seen it all the night before, we couldn't keep ourselves from rubber-necking! That striking blue-glass building in the right-hand photo above is Trump Tower, completed in 2009.

Look closely at the old Chicago Post Office building, above left, and you can see lettering that reads "Department of Health and Human Services." Also look for the razor wire at the edge of the water. That's all part of a movie stage set; filming for the movie "Transformers 3" took place here recently. And you probably recognize the building formerly known as the Sears Tower, above right.

We thought it was funny that some water taxis are painted to resemble Yellow Cabs. This must be a fun way to commute to work!

Our chart plotter (GPS unit) was completely confused by the canyon of skyscrapers. Look at how it recorded our course!